Garden writer, Anne Raver, writes about how she’s encouraging pollinators to be drawn to her Maryland farm in today’s New York Times. Both native bees and honeybees are excellent pollinators, but all pollinators are in decline, due to Colony Collapse Disorder (for honeybees) and lack of habitat (for natives.) David Salman, a horticultural expert quoted in the article, states, “I am excited beyond words about this resurgence in home food production, but the big thing left out of the equation is bringing pollinators into these gardens, particularly in urban areas.”
Raver notes that most home gardens and kitchen gardens contain trees, shrubs, and other plants that are a mix of European, Asian, and American species. Some native bees are “generalists,” drawn to all flowering plants, but many will pollinate only native species. Raver says she has no intention of editing out the European and Asian species on her farm, but will go for diversity instead. One way to attract native pollinators is to mow your grass less often and allow the dandelions, violets, and clover to feed tiny wasps and native bees. Native bees are also attracted to native trees and shrubs as well as flowers such as coneflowers and Rudibeckia. Another great strategy is to let a few of your kitchen garden crops, like cabbage, go to seed. Bulb fennel also attracts pollinators as do blueberry bushes, blackberry and raspberry brambles, wild roses, and non-native herbs such as lavender, mint, basil, marjoram, rosemary, and borage.
April 30th, 2009 | No Comments »
Here’s Palace Kitchen chef, Sean Hartley (on the right in the photo), and his lovely assistant chef, Brian Cunningham (with pizza peel, on the left), firing up pizzas in the wood burning oven in the Basco Kitchen Design Showroom. (Wouldn’t it be nice to have a wood-burning oven like this in your home kitchen?) This event, the Urban Eats Nosh-a-thon Kick Off in Tukwila, was attended by approximately 200 people and raised $1,500 for FareStart to benefit their culinary training programs for the disadvantaged- a very worthwhile cause!
Palace Kitchen is one of 49 restaurants participating in Urban Eats for the month of May. Here’s the link.
April 29th, 2009 | No Comments »
If you missed Nancy Leson this morning on “Food for Thought” on KPLU, you can listen to her talk about which local chefs are growing vegetables and fruits in their own restaurant gardens right here.
April 29th, 2009 | No Comments »
The subterranean Elliot Bay Cafe is located below the Elliot Bay Book Company in Pioneer Square. You can enter through the bookstore. But this route will lead you on a path of temptation and so, unless you forgot your book at home, I suggest you enter through the door located at the bottom of the staircase dropping through a hole cut in the sidewalk on South Main Street. Watch out that you don’t fall from the weird ledge lying in wait for the unsuspecting patron who fails to heed the “Please Watch Your Step” sign as he or she walks through the door. For those who do fall and tumble dramatically into the cafe, suspending activity within, I would prescribe a cheerful attitude and a resolution to consider the import of warning signs more carefully in the future.
Once inside the danger is considerably lessened and you can investigate at length the menu resting on the podium standing in the middle of the room. You place your order at the counter with the chipper young woman who will ask your name. After a short while a sad-eyed gentleman with the voice of an angel will call to you over the loudspeaker and you can go to the counter to collect your lunch. And what tasty lunch will you have today? Read the rest of this entry »
April 29th, 2009 | No Comments »
Here’s a cluster of Hen of the Woods Mushrooms and a few spring onions that I sited while walking through Palace Kitchen during prep time. Hen of the Woods grow wild, but these particular mushrooms were cultivated in Duvall, WA. Hen of the Woods, also known as Maitake, are prized, especially in Japan, for their fabulous flavor and firm texture. Even raw, these clusters of mushrooms give off a wonderful, penetrating aroma.
What is Chef Sean Hartley planning to do with these ingredients tonight? The mushrooms and spring onions will be sliced and sauteed in butter, seasoned with a little lemon juice, and served over apple-wood grilled toasts of Dahlia rye. Simple, seasonal, and delicious. I enjoyed a similar presentation just last week at Palace with fiddlehead ferns instead of spring onion. Check out this gorgeous dish on the Palace Kitchen menu tonight.
April 28th, 2009 | No Comments »
I 
If you’re a backyard vegetable gardener, you won’t want to miss the Tilth Edible Plant Sale this weekend, May 2 and 3, at the Good Shepherds Center in Wallingford. They will, as always, have an amazing variety of organic vegetable starts on sale, including over 50 varieties of tomatoes! Over 20 varieties of peppers! And they’re all organic and sustainably grown- plus the Tilth sale offers many rare varieties of veggies you’re not going to find anywhere else.
There are all kinds of goodies on the Seattle Tilth website, including this list of veggies that are also appropriate for container gardening.
I was reminded about this terrific event by Amy Pennington of Go Go Green Garden. She’ll be working the event as a volunteer. I’ll be there too, but definitely as a shopper. Can’t wait!
April 28th, 2009 | No Comments »
One of the great perks of working for Tom Douglas is that most of my lunch meetings are held at our restaurants. Needless to say, I am a happy, well-fed person. Today’s meeting took place at Serious Pie where we tried all the new appetizers on the menu. A paper-thin sliced lomo (cured pork loin- photo left) made by sous chef Tony Catini was not only super flavorful (hints of citrus and rosemary) but beautiful with its glassy translucency after it’s been drizzled with olive oil. Catini also sent out wood roasted asparagus with caramelized anchovies and Pecorino (photo right). Everything was nicely balanced between the toasted tips of the asparagus, the saltiness of the anchovies, and the creaminess of the cheese. But it’s Catini’s salad (photo top) that really makes me feel like it’s spring in Seattle. The delicate miner’s lettuce, the al dente fava beans, combined with the texture of the thinly sliced radishes is the perfect embodiment of a spring salad.
April 27th, 2009 | No Comments »
Miracle?
When my family and I traveled to Thailand and Laos, my wife’s vow was to consume plenty of three things. Shrimps, baby corn, and cashews. She succeeded. All these things are wonderful, but the most magical of these foods is the lovely cashew nut. Most of us don’t give it much of a thought when these things can be found in the bulk bin of the supermarket, but each cashew grows at the end of a single cashew apple. One little delicious cashew on each fruit. Each one picked, shelled, peeled, roasted, and shipped to us here from somewhere near the equator.
I cam across an old orchard walking around an island in southern Thailand. Some of the fruits were ripe. The apples are edible, but not that special. They have a strange burnt sort of flavor. Each tree produces 200 to 300 cashews at a time. No wonder these babies are expensive. A true delicacy in every sense of the word.
April 27th, 2009 | No Comments »
Last Tuesday’s “Little Taste” focused on Dahlia’s Chef, Brian Walczyk (photo,top), showing us how to break down a whole halibut– a 20 pound fish with head and tail intact. This was a young halibut, since they can get to be in excess of 500 pounds! Executive chef Eric Tanaka explained the different cuts and the cooking techniques you can use with halibut. The staff served tastes of halibut ceviche, a mini portion of halibut fish and chips (photo, bottom), and pan seared halibut with fresh fava beans.
April 23rd, 2009 | No Comments »
After being home for a few months now, there are MANY things to be missed about vacationing in Paris. I find myself reminiscing about cheap Belgian endive (1.25 Euro/kilo) and mache at the farmer’s markets, leisurely breaks in the middle of the day to drink espresso, and on and on. But perhaps the thing I miss most is having breakfast with my best friend who lives in Paris in the 18th Arrondisment. We would wake up late and then walk down to our favorite boulangerie in the neighborhood. After picking up a warm baguette and a few pastries, we’d go home, press some coffee, pull out the large jar of Nutella (which is different over there than the product we get here), jam, and our favorite butter and yogurt. We’d let a nice breeze in by opening the balcony’s French doors that overlooked the cobblestone street and then proceed to enjoy breakfast and each other’s company. By and far, it is this morning ritual that I miss most: leisurely wake up times, press coffee, pastries, warm bread, and my best friend all under a beautiful Parisian backdrop.
As a side note: if you wanted to leave for Paris this Friday, you could get a ticket for $686. Think about it!
April 23rd, 2009 | No Comments »
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